Readings: SIR 15:15-20, PS 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34, 1 COR 2:6-10, MT 5:17-37
The first reading and the Gospel discuss the law of the Lord. The Psalm Response from Psalm 119 calls us blessed if we follow the law of the Lord. These readings may sound dry and foreboding. But Jesus came teaching about choices. In today’s first reading from Sirach, we hear: If you CHOOSE you can keep the commandments. In the Gospel we are still at the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is continuing to apply the beatitudes to the hearers of the sermon. He offers interpretations or further articulations of the Law of Moses. And in giving these expanded interpretations, he offers his hearers the importance of choosing the more.
—Sister Dominica Rocchio, SC
Sr. Dominica, most recently a member of the Congregation’s leadership team, has ministered in education as a teacher, principal, and in administrative positions in the archdioceses of New York and Newark, NJ. In Newark, she served as Superintendent of Schools and Secretary for Education. At present, she works on Special Projects for the Congregation.